The personal blog of Reyn Bowman, a Durham NC resident, 40-year veteran of community-destination marketing and still an explorer in community sense-of-place. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.

Local searches are important because Google analysis revealed they make up 70% of all online activity and a joint study just released by Google and Nielsen reveals that for many categories, the shift to mobile may be accelerating even more quickly than could be foreseen just last year.

These searches are important to communities because because nearly all business travelers including those attending conventions and 72% of the much larger leisure travel segment use mobile devices to obtain information during visits.

Those located in communities such as Durham are fortunate because the DMO’s mobile website provides easy access for residents, commuters and visitors to comprehensive, curated information on thousands of businesses, organizations and facilities even if they do not have a mobile site of their own without the need to search category by category.

But the sea-change to mobile searches is becoming even more important to a community’s business climate because the new Google-Nielsen study shows they are more likely to be followed up by immediate action, as high as 55% within an hour. Other studies have shown mobile searches are twice as likely to result in action but that gap appears to be rapidly widening.

Businesses at one time relied on 800 numbers as a means to make access convenient for those without access to phone books etc. but today, more than six out of ten mobile searches result in a phone call, according to Google.

Local phone numbers are now more likely to get a click through than national or toll-free numbers and yet even on their regular websites, 49.4% of small and mid-sized businesses and organizations fail to have it on their home page. Nearly 94% fail to display a contact email address.

Here again, those based in communities where they are listed on a DMO desktop and mobile optimized website are sure to have local numbers listed and the DMO serves as a concierge to answer questions and to facilitate referral.

The Google-Nielsen study doesn’t appear to include visitors to a community unless they are shown under “on the go use” outside home and work. But the study does provide insight into how visitors may be using local searches.

As examples, I’ll highlight findings for restaurants and shopping, by far the two areas with the most visitor activity participation, along with arts and entertainment, one of several activity areas important to visitors.

Local searches involving restaurants are 53% initiated via web browser and via an app 43% of the time. Nearly 80% are purposeful vs. random searches. More than half click on links or then visit to a restaurant with 30% making a purchase.

Local searches for shopping occur via web browsers 56% of the time with 38% accessing via an app. Nearly 68% are by intent and 21% random searches. More than half result in click-throughs with 24% visiting a store and 25% making a purchase. Mobile shopping queries are twice as likely to be in store.

Local searches for arts and entertainment are done 56% of the time via web browsers 56% of the time with 38% accessing via an app. Nearly 30% came on the item randomly and 28% out of need. More than 60% clicked on links, 11% visited the physical location, 21% shared the information and 9% made a purchase.

Sites such as Durham’s mobile-specific aggregator make searches more convenient, with the added benefit that searches for one purpose such as an arts events are more likely to see other activities that are available such as dining and vice versa.

In 2012, a billion people globally used mobile devices as their primary internet access point. In the U.S., 95% of smartphone owners conduct browser-based searches, 82% once a week or more.

The new study emphasizes again that regardless of how visitors or residents initially access content, e.g. a print visitors guide or a desktop, they want that information to be portable and accessible across other platforms including mobile.

The genius of the web is that localized planning can be spontaneous and activities tangential, which is more the way people live even when they are visiting a community. This also results in more spending and a more authentic experience.

With the migration to mobile web searches from apps underway, it makes sense both for travelers and communities for DMOs to create a mobile-optimized website rather than an app. Even frequent travelers to a destination can simply add a mobile website to their home screen so that it appears much like an app for ready reference, but forwarding the website and selecting home screen.

2 comments:

Similar to an e-mail opt-in list, marketers are taking advantage of the mobile website eruption by collecting mobile number lists. This is valuable information for a business marketer. So how do you entice your visitors to provide their mobile number? A useful mobile marketing tip is to always offer subscribers a small reward or incentive for joining your mobile number list. By providing a token of your gratitude, you will be able to gain a greater number of willing participants for your publicity campaign, and will build invaluable goodwill and brand loyalty.Now the question is "What is webbyrå, Webbyrå Stockholm and mobil hemsida ?"